In Search of a Future for Large-Scale Care Homes in Flanders

Housing for older people in Flanders evolves toward small-scale facilities and better quality of life. Ageing population strains the means to achieve this to the limit. The authors investigate whether and how Flemish large-scale facilities can adapt to meet contemporary and future requirements of housing for older people. By analyzing current tendencies, they depict what this housing should look like, both now and in the future. They then investigate how an existing large-scale care home could fit this picture by using design as a mode of knowledge production. They propose to redesign the site such that its actual evolution would be thoroughly redirected. Beyond the facility at issue, the study shows how Flemish large-scale facilities could develop to keep playing a role in the future. They should timely adapt their size with qualities of small-scale housing schemes, and integrate in the neighborhood.